Our ray of light

This was the perfect weekend to bless Olivia. Brady's family was in town for Thanksgiving so my parents flew up for the weekend and we were all able to celebrate together.

Brady gave a beautiful blessing to our sweet little girl, and we had so much fun celebrating with family members. We love our family and are so grateful for their love and support. Olivia has filled our home with joy and brought so much fulfillment to our lives. Just as she was blessed to be a "ray of light" to others, she is such a bright spirit in our home! We love her so much!

rolly poli oli

About 2 weeks ago, Olivia was doing some tummy time. She was straining and arching her back when all of the sudden she rolled over! I was so excited and proud of her- I clapped and looked around to tell somebody but Brady was gone at class. Even though I was so proud of her, I kind of just thought she had no idea what she just did and wouldn't be able to do it again. (I even forgot to tell Brady! what a terrible wife and mom)

A few days later, when I got home from school Brady told me that she rolled over twice that day, and I got all excited again and told him that she had done it for me already once, but I still thought she didn't know what she was doing.

Well, last week she sure showed me. She can totally roll over (front to back) whenever she wants, both right and left. I never thought I would get this excited over such a thing, but everything she does amazes me! Can you tell we are over the moon for this little one?

gratitude

"If you want to feel rich, just count all the things you have that money can't buy"

-unknown

B and I took the 2 hour trip down to Richfield this Thanksgiving, and Olivia met her great grandma for the first time. Pam and Jack were kind enough to host the big feast at their house and we enjoyed spending time with family all day!

The food was soooo delicious and it felt so nice to relax. There were many helping hands that offered to hold Olivia, so we truly did get to relax, and she was such a doll pretty much the whole time. She was a very well behaved little lady, catching some shut eye here and there and smiling the whole time in between! Only little winces to tell mom that she was hungry for her own thanksgiving feast.

Grandma Hansen gave Liv her special Thanksgiving outfit,
and I made her a little headband to match


Seeing Carly and Micah's new baby, Cash, made me miss having such a teeny baby. I guess they are actually about the same size, but she's changed so much since the newborn stage. It made my heart ache a little to realize that my girl's growing up (she can already roll over you know).



Livy falling over


I was spoiled getting to spend the ENTIRE day with my girl and she just cooed and smiled and talked to me when I could get my face right up to hers. She makes me feel so loved. I hope I do the same for her.

us girls in our felt headbands
(not sure what's going on with my hair)


On the drive up, we decided to count our blessing and name them out loud. It took the entire 2 hours, and I'll bet we could keep going. We are so thankful for our charmed lives, and need days like this to forget our silly problems and complaints, to just relax and realize we are so blessed.

This is one of the busiest, most stressful times in our lives so far, but yet we are so happy. I have my best friend by my side forever, and he loves me! What more could I ask for...but I've been given so much more than just that one amazing blessing, including a beautiful, sweet, healthy baby. Those two blessings alone are enough to fill my heart with overflowing gratitude to my Heavenly Father.

2 month stats

Baby went for her 2 month check up on Friday:

Length: 22 in

Weight: 9lb 13oz

*she's in the 25th percentile for height and weight,

so she's little....big surprise huh ;)

I don't remember her head measurement and I don't have my paper in front of me

(and I'm too lazy to go get it right now)

but she was in the 75th percentile for her head size!

Looks like we got ourself a baby Einstein!

Here's some bonus pics of Olivia in her snow suit

(borrowed from cousin Addie - thanks!)

Can you tell her feet don't reach all the way to end

And another.

Its blurry but I had to post it just because we were rolling when we saw it. So funny!

Other tricks she has up her sleeve:

-sleeps anywhere from 6 to 10 hours at night

-she is great at tummy time and can lift her chest

-smiles and coos when talked to

-tracks objects and people with her eyes

-can hold her head up

turn that frown upside down

Brady and I got into a little disagreement that ended in one of us (I won't say who) storming out of the room. We took some time to ourselves to calm down, and when we came back together I said to Brady, "do you even know what you did that made me upset?" He stumbled a bit and then said, "well, which thing are you talking about" I kept a straight face for about half a second and then started laughing. He laughed and said "i'm pretty sure there were a few things i did wrong but which one made you the MOST mad?" I kept laughing, he kept laughing, we were both laughing, and eventually tears started coming out of my eyes.

Sometimes all you need is one little laugh to turn your day around.

and while we're on the subject, did this scary smiley/frowny face guy they used in primary give anyone else nightmares as a child?

the end of fall

We decided to try and get a few quick family pics on Friday before it turned too cold. The weather was actually really nice, but I felt it was still a little cold for a baby, so we hurried as fast as we could. Before even setting foot out the door, I resigned myself to the fact that Olivia would most likely be crying in every shot, but I was pleasantly surprised that she was calm and there were no tears....for the most part!

a little of this, a little of that

I was digging through some old pics to see who Olivia really looks like... everyone says she looks like me, but as she gets older I think she looks more and more like Brady. What you think?

either way, she's a pretty little girl

just us girls

I wish I could just sit and watch you all day long.

I would watch you talk and coo and gurgle, making cute little faces with furrowed brows, sticking your tongue out trying to mimmick me, getting big eyes when you can focus and see my eyes looking right into yours, and then smiling when you recognize that its me, your mama.

I would keep watching when your eyes start to get so heavy, they blink and then the blinking gets slower [...] I'd also see you startle yourself so you wake up. I would say 'shh shh shh, mama's got ya' and hug you close with my cheek on yours, and the blinking would begin all over again. Then I would keep watching you sleep with such a peaceful face, sometimes cracking a smile and letting out some sighs in your high voice. [...]

Even though I miss daddy when he's gone, its fun when he leaves just us girls to party together.

Thank you for letting me be your mom Livy, I am the luckiest.

tummy time

Here's a little video of Olivia's tummy time.
Can you tell we love to squish her chubby cheeks?
And disregard the comments about spit up at the end...

Sunday

Yesterday was Liv's first Sunday! It feels like forever since we've been at church, and someone even asked if she was 5 or 6 months yet, so I guess people have wondered where we've been ;) For the record, she's only 6 weeks. We haven't even been to the 2 month appt yet so that's why we're still staying away and sitting in the back, etc.

Here she is all dressed up (kinda like a hippie again). I was so excited to put her in this dress!

Starting to get mad

Okay seriously guys, stop.

Smiley

I was talking with my mom yesterday and she casually mentioned that she hadn't seen anything on the blog in a while. And then not so casually said she wanted to see more pics of Livy :)

"One of our favorite things is to just sit with you on our big bed in the morning

when none of us have anywhere to rush off to.

We get to just sit and chat and coo at you, giggle at your smileys,

and sometimes,

if we're really lucky,

you talk back to us, and we get to relax.

Our whole family together."

-from 'letters to my baby' (a private diary for Liv)

Finally...

...my halloween post, only about 2 weeks late.

We had a lot of fun at the Willits' party! Olivia did so good, and it was nice to get out of the house, even if only for an hour. The decor was so so awesome!



I stole these pics off her blog because ours turned out so blurry.
The drinks were delish, the music was rockin, and the company was to DIE for!



Our family. We're hippies if you can't tell, which I don't blame you if you can't. Again we left finding costumes til the night before and I was lucky enough to have some of my grandmas old clothes to wear.



The loud music put this little one right to sleep!


and look at Colson! SO good!

Look who finally fits into her pink converse...

and here's a preview of the Halloween bash...


We were hippies and Olivia was our flower child.
As you can see from the pic, the Willits have done it again!
Ah-mazing decorations! We had a ball and Liv loved her first party :)

more to come later on the Halloween bash